


/- 








■V 



SPEECH 

OF 

HON. T, A. HENDRICKS, 

OF INDIANA, 
\\/r In the Senate of the United States, February 16, 1868. 



Mr. HENDRICKS. Mr. President, it has been the boast of the people of the United 
States that they are in the enjoyment of Constitutional liberty, not liberty depending 
upon the will and pleasure of any man, but a liberty that is secured by the fact that 
the powers of the Government are defined and limited, and that the rights and privi- 
leges of the people are well secured. Our Constitution was made by men eminently 
qualified for the work. No one now questions that. The American people have been 
very fortunate in that regard. As patriotic, as pure, as intelligent, and able statesmen 
as ever united in the performance of any labor for their country were the men who 
• made the Constitution of the United States. The time was auspicious. The war of 
the Revolution had just closed, and the people of the different States or colonies had 
become firmly united and cemented by the circumstances of that war. There"%as no 
sectionalism in 1789, but the men of South Carolina loved the men of Massachusetts 
as they loved the men of Virginia. Seven years of war had passed over the country 
and the men of every section had mingled in that war. The soldier of Virginia had 
been associated with the soldier from Massachusetts ; they had dwelt under the same 
tent together ; they had shared the hardships of the field, the dangers upon the rough 
edge of the battle ; their comrades had fallen together and slept in a common grave. 

The glories of that war were common to all. They did not belong to Virginia alone 
or to Massachusetts alone, but all had shared in common perils for a common purpose 
and had achieved a common glory and a common good. Under these circumstances 
our fathers met to frame a Government for the people ; and for three quarters of a cen- 
tury we thought they had framed the best Grovernment it was possible for the intelli- 
gence of man to devise, a Government adjusting the interests of the different sections 
so as that there could be do discord, leaving to the States the management and control 
of all domestic matters, and giving to the Federal Government the control of those 
general questions that affected all the people. Under that Government for three quar- 
ters of a century we lived and* prospered, we prospered as no people had pro-.pered, we 
grew in wealth and in population beyond all parallel. 

A war came in 1861 upon the country again, the most unfortunate that can befall 
.any people ; and now, after a war not against a common enemy, but at the close of a 
war between different sections of this country, in which the men of the North have 
been arrayed in battle against the men of the South, when we have learned to hate 
one another as no people have ever hated, we now propose to amend the Constitution. 
I appeal to Senators to inquire of their own judgments and hearts and say to the coun- 
try, are you now in the right spirit to change the fundamental law of the land ? Eleven 
States are absent from our councils ; they are not here to be heard. We say they 
shall not come in, and we, the men of the North, propose to make a Government for 



ELtoS 






the whole country. We, without the hearing, without the counsel of the men of the 
South, propose to make a Government which they shall respect and obey. Are the^ 
circumstances favorable to this work ? How different from the circumstances that sur- 
rounded our fathers when they made the Government ! Peace then, peace now ; but 
peace then after a war which had united the people ; peace now after a war which has 
made such divisions among us, as that you now say eleven States ought not to be rep- 
resented in Congress. 

Again, sir, the fact that there is such a desire to change the Constitution should ad- 
monish us that we ought not to attempt the work. I understand that there are seventy 
propositions to amend the Constitution. In this Hall there have been two or three 
upon the same subject-matter, two or three amendments that we shall not pay a debt 
of the South which the South itself has repudiated, which can never according to the 
terms of the debt itse f become due. And covering nearly the entire instrument prop- 
ositions for amendment are made. 

1 was once, when quite a young man, a member of the Legislature of my State, and 
nothing struck me as a greater curiosity than the fact that upon certain questions 
there was a great desire to offer propositions and bills, and especially the estray laws, 
the road laws, and the school laws. Members from different parts of the State seemed 
to make a race of speed which should succeed in first getting his proposition before 
the body. Such a spectacle we to-day witness in regard to the Constitution of our 
country. It seems to be a race among Senators and Representatives who shall offer 
the greatest number of amendments to the Constitution of the country. I do not ex- 
pect to vote for the proposition that is now before us or any other that may be made. 
In some regards 1 think the Constitution could be improved, but I would not propose 
any amendment, nor would I vote for any, when I think we are not in a condition for 
the woik. 

This proposition comes from the committee of fifteen ; a committee which was con- 
stituted and the powers of which were defined by this resolution : 

" Resolved, That a joint committee of fifteen members shall be appointed, nine of 
" whom shall be members of the House and six members of the Senate, who shall in- 
'* quire into the condition of the States which formed the so-called Confederate States 
"of America, and report whether they or any of them are entitled to he represented in 
" either House of Congress ; with leave to report at any time by bill or otherwise." 

Sir, there was one question upon which it was important that the action of the two 
Houses should be uniform, should agree, and that was in respect to representation. It 
seemed to be important that when Senators were admitted into this body from Southern 
Spates, Representatives at the same time should be admitted into the House of Repre- 
sentatives. In other words, the Senate should not allow representation from a Southern 
State and the House deny that representation to the same State ;■ and therefore it was 
understood that there should be a joint committee on that subject, because it was a 
question relating to the organization of both bodies, and this committee was organized 
with a view to reach that question, and that only — to inquire into the condition of the 
Southern States, whether they are entitled to representation; and upon that question 
to report to the Senate and to the House either by bill or otherwise. Sir, the Senate 
has never said to that committee that it might inquire into any other question. 

Mr. FESSENDEN. Allow me to ask the Senator if he heard the explanation which 
I gave? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I did, and I am going to speak of that. This is an extraordinary 
committee to consider just one question, and that is the question whether the Southern 
States ought to be represented in this Hall and in the Hall at the other end of the 
Capitol. That committee has not been authorized by the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives to inquire into any other subject, as I said. Upon that subject they may re- 
port by bill or otherwise. How is it that passing from that subject, the committee has 
reported two amendments to the Constitution upon subjects not referred to them? 

Mr. F ESSEN DEN. The Senator is very much mistaken. Allow me to explain ; I do 
not wish to interrupt the Senator except to explain. The committee did not take that 
view of its powers. To be sure, by the original resolution under which the joint com- 
mittee was appointed, the limitation was precisely as the Senator expresses it ; but it 
was a joint committee, and the House of Representatives referred the resolutions origi- 
nally offered by »>ne of my colleagues [Mr. Blaine] to that committee. Now, sir, it is a 
well-established principle in business here, that however a committee may be raised 
it can report upon any subject that is referred to it, for that is a new commission, so to 



speak ; and that subject being specifically referred to the committee they understood 
that it was their duty to report upon it ; and it being a joint committee, and each House 
making its reference, the committee supposed, and I as an individual supposed that it 
was proper or at least competent, for the committee to report to either branch ; and it 
was thought best to make the report at the same time to both branches. That is a 
question as to the right or duty of the committee under the reference, which inight be 
decided if there was any occasion to decide it. I make this explanation to show what 
view the committee of fifteen took of it. As to the other report which was made of a 
joint resolution, allow me to say that it was made specifically the duty of the commit- 
tee to inquire into and report upon that subject by a resolution which was offered by 
the Senator from Missouri, [Air. Brown, ] and which was adopted by the Senate. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. Mr. President, I understood the facts precisely as the Senator 
has stated them ; and if this were a committee of the Senate, or exclusively a com- 
mittee of the House, his view of the subject would be right perhaps ; but I suggest to 
him that if a committee of this body are to consider of the business of this body alone 
has a defined jurisdiction, and the body inadvertently refers to that committee some 
subject that does not come within that jurisdiction, it is the custom of the committee 
without consideration of the subject to report it back to this body, that it may go to 
the appropriate ecmmittee. But, Mr. President, this is not a committee of the Senate; 
it is not a committee of the House ; it is a committee to represent both bodies upon a 
subject common to both, not a subject over which there should be the separate action 
of the two bodies, and therefore the House cannot add to the jurisdiction of a joint 
committee, nor can the Senate alone add to the jurisdiction. It being a committee 
representing both bodies, originated by a joint resolution and its jurisdiction defined 
that jurisdiction can only be enlarged by a joint resolution. 

Mr. FESSENDEN. The practice of the Senate is the other way every day. Take 
the case of the Joint Committee on the Library. Matters are referred by each body to 
the Library Committee which are entirely outside of the Library itself, or anything 
connected with it ; but being referred by each House to that committee, which is a 
joint committee, a report is made by bill or otherwise to each branch. I have been a 
member of that committee, and know this to be the every-day practice. 

Mr. HEND.RICKS. If that be the every-day practice of the Senate, to which propo- 
sition I do not agree. 

Mr. FE8SENDEN. It is the fact at any rate. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. If that be the practice of the Senate, it ought now to be aban- 
doned. Why, sir, does the Constitution establish a House of Representatives and a 
Senate, and declare that the legislative power shall not belong to one body, but shall 
belong to two bodies, acting separately and independently ? The purpose of the Con- 
stitution is that every important measure affecting the country shall, before it becomes 
a law, receive the consideration of two Houses separately, each giving its separate at- 
tention to the subject. And so far does the principle on this subject go that we can- 
not in debate in this body refer to the doings of the House of Representatives ; we are 
not allowed by the rules of the body to refer to the action of the House ; and whv t 
Because it is the purpose that the action and judgment of the House shall have no in- 
fluence upon the Senate, nor shall the judgment of the Senate have any influence upon 
the House; and the purity of legislation requires that upon all grave questions each 
House shall act separately and independently, and that principle is not departed from 
except when there is a disagreement between the two bodies, and then a committee of 
■conference attempts to reconcile that disagreement. 

And, sir, if this is a sound principle of legislation, I ask, ought it to be departed 
from when we propose to amend the Constitution of the United States ? Ought not a 
proposition to amend the Constitution to be considered by each branch without refer- 
ence to the judgment of the other? Here, sir, is a large committee, nine of the House 
six of the Senate, fifteen, holding a joint conference upon a subject before it comes to 
either body, and at the same time a report is made from that committee to both bodies, 
thereby defeating the very purpose of the Constitution in having separate branches of 
the Legislature. This committee had its birth in a party caucus and has constituted 
itself a new French Directory, set up in Washington to control the action of Govern- 
ment, to grasp in its hands the functions of Congress, and to dictate to the 
Executive. 

It is composed of nine members from the House of Representatives, and of six mem- 
bers from the Senate. It meets in secret session, wholly free from the observation of 
the public, and at such place and time as may suit its own pleasure. Over the door 
of its meeting place might be appropriately written, "No admittance for the American 



people ; this place is sacred to a political inquisition, whose will is law to the President 
and to Congress, and whose fiat binds the fortunes and determines the fate of eleven 
States and eight million people." The committee select witnesses according to their 
own good will. Their writs of subpena run throughout the country, and they can 
draw upon the Treasury for their expenditures. They cogitate constitutional amend- 
ments for the operation of the previous question in the House of Representatives, and 
for the lash of party discipline in the Senate. The representation of eleven States 
stands suspended during their pleasure, and while they may devise how the President 
of the United States shall be broken to their will, or be degraded before the people. 
In the exercise of this fearful and odious power, one-fourth of the people of the nation 
are arraigned before the secret bar of the tribunal of fifteen, and their fate may be de- 
termined upon the evidence of spies, informers, contractors, political agents, and hos- 
tile officials. 

That, Mr. President, is the committee which proposes these amendments to the Con- 
stitution of the United States ; a committee organized for party purposes; a committee 
that had its birth, as I said, in a party caucus ; a committee that was carried through 
the House of Representatives the first day of the session, and, in my judgment, could 
not have been carried at any later day of the session ; a committee that was carried 
through this body after some amendments of the House resolution. That committee 
proposes amendments to the organic law of the country, and we are expected, and I 
suppose it will be done, to pass them in this body. 

Then, after speaking of the committee that brings the proposition before the body, I 
wish to inquire a little into the history of this Constitutional amendment that is pro- 
posed. The first proposition that was talked of during the session, and the very first 
proposition that came before this body, was the proposition of the Senator from Massa- 
chusetts, [Mr. Sumner,] offered on the first day of the session. That proposition was, 
as he has since very ably discussed the question, that taxation and representation shall 
rest upon the same basis. His proposition was that taxation and representation should 
rest upon the voting population of the United States, limited to those persons who are 
voters and over twenty-one years of age. I heard no objection to that proposition until it 
was made in the House of Representatives. I presume I may refer, under the rules, to 
what may be said in the House as a matter of History without reterring to it for any 
purpose of influencing the judgment of the Senate. The objection made in the House 
to the proposition of the Senator from Massachusetts Cfor the same proposition was 
made there} was that it was unequal ; and the Senator from Maine, [Mr. Fessenden, J 
who reported this resolution from the committee, expressed the same objection to the 
voting basis that was made in the House ; that it was unequal ; that the male popula- 
tion of New England was not so great in proportion to the female population as in the 
Western States, and especially as in California, and therefore New England, under that 
proposition, would not receive so large a representation as the Western States. There 
was force in the objection ; for if you examine the census of 1860, it will be found that 
the female population of the six States of New England exceeds the male population 
some fifty thousand, while in the six great agricultural States of Ohio, Indiana, Ken- 
tucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa, the male population exceeds the female population 
by two hundred and ninety-seven thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight. Adopting 
the voting population then, as the basis of representation and taxation, the six great 
agricultural States of the West that I have mentioned would have the advantage of 
New England by two or three Representatives. New England would not endure that. 
From the time the speech was made developing that fact in the House of Representa- 
tives, no man has raised his voice for the voting basis. 

Mr. President, upon what should representation and taxation rest ? The Constitu- 
tion as it now stands provides : 

" Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States, 
M which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, 
"which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including 
" those bound to'service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three- 
" fifths of all other persons." 

This is the provision of the Constitution which it is proposed to amend. This pro- 
vision rests upon the doctrine of the Revolution, upon the established principle and 
policy of the Government that representation and taxation shall have the same basis 
of support. The propriety and justice of the principle was not questioned in the 
Convention that made the C onstitution, nor in the conventions of the States that rati- 
fied that instrument, and it is to-day the cherished doctrine of the American people 



that taxation ought not to go beyond representation. The opinion has been attributed 
to the President that taxation ought to rest upon property. In my judgment, it should 
be so, but at the same time I may say it will never be. Property is the proper subject 
of taxation, and taxes ouglit to be levied upou persons in proportion to there estates. 
That is the principle that prevails in the States, aud in my judgment property should 
be the basis of Federal taxatiou : but it is not, and while New England, in proportion 
to her population, and New York and Pennsylvania are so much more wealthy than 
the other States of the Union, that basis never can be secured. 

Then, sir, if taxation connot be made to rest upon property, where I think it should 
rest, ought taxation to go beyond representation ? I will not attempt to discuss the 
question so fully exhausted by the Senator from Massachusetts, [ Mr. Sumner.] One 
difficulty in forming the Constitution of the United States grew out of the relation of 
the slaves tc the people. In some respects they were regarded as persons, and in other 
respects as property, and a compromise was the result of the consideration of the ques- 
tion — a compromise to the effect that three-fifths of the same population should be 
counted. But, Sir, under the Constitution, as 'the slaves became free, they fell into the 
population that they were counted man for man ; and now as slavery has been abolished, 
the entire colored population is to be counted for the purpose of taxation and repres- 
entation under the present Constitution ; but it is proposed to change the Constitution 
so that they shall not be counted in States where they are not allowed to be voters. 

This proposition when first brought before the body provided that representation and 
direct taxation should stand together and rest upon the same basis. After a further 
consideration of the subject, it was decided to strike out the words "and direct taxa- 
tion," and that was the second report from the committee. The effect of that is, that 
taxation upon the southern States shall be increased, so far as it rests upon the colored 
population, two fifths, and representation, so far as it rests upon that population, shall 
be reduced three-fifths. Now, there is in the northern States anon-voting white popu- 
lation. You count them for purposes of taxation. You count them for purposes of 
repivsentaiion. You do not for either purpose inquire whether they exercise the 
privileges of a citizen by voting. You simply count them, and you make no difference. 
But in the South you propose to tax the people of the States upou the colored popu- 
lation, and you deny them representation upon that population. 

Mr. President, upon what principal does this proposition rest? Every great amend- 
ment to the Constitution of course ought to rest 'upon some principle. Neither its pro- 
visions for taxation or for representation rests upon property, as I have said. It does 
not rest upon voters, because it allows persons to be counted who are not voters. 
White persons who are not voters are counted. It does not rest upon the entire pop- 
ulation of the country, because it excludes nearly four millions who are not voters. In 
the North, I understand there are from fifteen to twenty Representatives upon a non- 
voting population, and this proposed amendment will not change it in that regard. I 
will read a very short extract from two speeches on this subject made by very distin- 
guished supporters of this proposition : 

"Again, many of the large States now hold their representation in part by reason of 
" their aliens." 

Another gentleman, the chairman of this committee in the House, said : 

"Now, Sir, there is another fatal objection to the proposition of my friend from 
"Ohio."— 

4 

That proposition was that representation and taxation should rest upon the voting 
population — 

"If I have been rightly informed as to the number, there are from fifteen to twenty 
"Representatives in the northern States founded upon those who are not citizens of 
"the United States. In New York I think there are three or four representatives 
"founded upon the foreign population, three certainly. And so it is in Wisconsin, 
"Iowa, and other northern States. There are fifteen or twenty northern Representa- 
"tives that would be lost by that amendment." 

Then, Sir, there are to-day in the House of Representatives from fifteen to twenty 
Representatives based upon a population who are denied the right of voting by the 
laws of the country. If it be right to deny to southern States a representation in the 
House of Representatives because they do not allow a certain clasS to vote at the polls, 
as honest men wanting to deal justly and fairly, how can you deify a representation upon 



6 

a non-voting population fn the southern States ? We are considering too grave a ques- 
tion to perpetrate inequality and injustice. If the North has upon a non-voting popu- 
lation the benefit of from fifteen to twenty Representatives, how is it that she can say 
that no other section of the country shall enjoy the same right, if it is the pleasure of 
the States to deny the rij^ht of voting ? 

Then, sir, as the proposition does not rest upon population, as it does not rest upon 
property, as it does not rest upon voters, upon what principle does it rest ? Upon what 
principle do Senators propose to adopt this amendment to the Constitution ? I can 
understand it if you say that the States shall be represented in the House of Repre- 
sentatives upon their popiilation ; I can understand it if you say that they shall he 
represented upon their voters ; but when you say that one State shall have the benefit 
of its non-voting population and another State shall not, I cannot understand the prin- 
ciple of equity and justice which governs you in that measure. Sir, if it does not 
stand upon a principle, upon what does it rest ? It rests upon a political policy. A 
committer that had its birth in a party caucus brings it before this body, and does not 
conceal the fact that it is for party purposes. This measure, if you ever allow the 
southern States to be represented in the House of Representatives, will bring them 
back shorn of fifteen or twenty Representatives ; it will bring them back so shorn in 
their representation that the Republican party can control this country forever ; and if 
you can cut off from fifteen to thirty votes for President of the United States in the- 
States that will not vote for a Republican candidate, it may be that you can elect a 
Republican candidate in 1868. Now, sir, upon this subject I ask the attention of Sen- 
ators. These are no words of mine. I will put upon the stand the most influential 
Republican to-day in the Congress of the United States. He says : 

" According to my judgment they ought never to be recognized as capable of acting 
" in the Union, or of being counted as valid States, until the Constitution shall have 
"been so amended as to make it what its framers intended; and so as to secure per- 
" petual ascendency to the party of the Union." 

That is the phrase of these times by which men undertake to describe their own 
party, " the party of the Union." A party that to-day says this Union shall not be- 
rtstored, a party that to-day says that eleven States shall stay out of Congress, arro- 
gates to itself the name of "the Union party." Describing his party by that term, he 
says that the Constitution must be so amended as to secure the perpetual ascendancy 
of the Union party : 

" If they should grant the right of suffrage to persons of color, I think there would 
" always be Union white men enough in the South, aided by the blacks, to divide the 
"representation, and thus continue the Republican ascendency." 

That is a little more distinct. Dropping the phrase, " the Union party," the head 
of this committee, the chieftain in the House, comes squarely out in the House of Repre- 
sentatives and says the Constitution must be so amended as to secure the perpetual as- 
cendency of the Republican party. Mr. President, have we come to that in the Senate 
of the United States, that we abandon principle, that we seek no longer to base repre- 
sentation upon population, that we do not seek to base representation upon voters, but 
that we mingle the basis of representation so as to secure a party life ? I hope that I 
shall never come to the consideration of a question of so grave importance with a parti- 
san feeling. 

There is another purpose, in my judgment, or if it be not a purpose it will be an effect 
of this measure, to cut off representation from the agricultural portion of the country, 
and to that extent to increase the representation of the manufacturing d istricts, and 
thus permanently fasten upon the country the New England policy and the New Eng- 
land power. My colleague has agreed to this, my colleague, who repiesents a portion 
of the agricultural section of the country, has agreed in a very able speech to the 
proposition that from the agricultural States shall be stricken a large proportion of 
their representation. Why, sir, is the right of voting given for the benefit of the 
party who casts the vote alone, or is it given for the benefit of the voter and the coun- 
try ? Is representation based upon population for the benefit of a single individual, or 
for the protection of the interests in which all the people have their fortunes ? The 
States and country that rest upon the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and their tributaries 
have a common interest. They cannot cease to be agricultural States. The plow must 
turn wealth up to the men of the West. We need a representation in the House, and 
I aay to my colleague that I cannot agree with his judgment that we have a right to 



consent that a portion of the representation which secures agriculture shall be cut off 
from the House of Representatives. 

Mr. President, I would not say a word against New England. I honor and respect 
New England for her glorious revolutionary history, for her virtues of frugality, indus- 
try, and enterprise ; but 1 cannot consent that she shall have an increased advantage in 
the representation of the country. I will ask my colleague if he does not to-day know 
that advantage has been taken of the West during this war. I will not say by design ; 
I will not say for the purpose of taking advantage ; but I ask him if in fact the inter- 
ests of the West and the Northwest have not been subordinated to the interests of 
another section of the country ? 

Mr. LANE, of Indiana. Does my colleague want an answer now? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. After I am through. When was it known that such a tariff pre- 
vailed as governs the country at this time ? When was it known that there was such 
an adjustment of the tariff, such an exclusion of foreign competition as that the manu- 
facturer could charge the western consumer for his cotton products the same price that 
he asked when cotton stood at three hundred per cent, more than it does now ? And 
yet, sir, such is the condition of the country. Whatever the western man to-day buys 
he pays from thirty to one hundred per cent, more than if the trade of the world lay 
open to him ; and this has been accomplished during the period when agriculture was 
but partially represented in the House of Representatives. My colleague is afraid of 
southern votes in Congress. I am not upon that question. Men will vote in accord- 
ance with their interests, when not controlled by a constitutional duty or by a sense of 
right. During the five years tnat have passed the southern agricultural States have 
not been represented in the House of Representatives, and a most unjust and unequal 
adjustment of the revenue system has been adopted, much to the prejudice of the 
State that my colleague and I represent in this body. 

Now, sir, shall we ?o permanently arrange the representation of the country that 
agriculture cannot hold up its head? Shall we so permanently adjust representation 
as that the spindle and the loom shall always be more productive and honorable than 
the plow and the harrow ? Sir, I do not consent to it ; and without any reference to 
sectional feelings or sentiments, I ask for the West simply equality in the legislation 
of Congress. Demanding that much we ought to be heard ; but we have not been 
heard during the past five years, as the tax-payers of the West very well know. 
While New England has been making her returns to those who have invested their 
capital in manufactures of from twenty to one hundred per cent., the western farmer, 
when he buys the necessaries of life at the present charges and settles his accounts 
with the tax collector, can scarcely provide the comforts of life for his family and for 
the education of his children. Is it not known to every Senator that when manufac- 
turing establishments can make dividends of from twenty to seventy per cent, there 
is wrong done to some interest in the country, and that is because agriculture has not 
been fully represented in Congress during the past five years ? 

Mr. ANTHONY. Will the Senator allow me a moment ? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. Yes sir. 

Mr. ANTHONY. I make it a rule never to interrupt a Senator, and I would not now 
interrupt the Senator if I did not know he was the most good-natured member of the 
whole body. [Laughter.] 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I am much obliged to the Senator- 
Mr. ANTHONY. I do not propose to go into the argument at this time, but I wish 
to say that there never has been a time since I have been familiar with public affairs 
when the protection on manufactured articles was so small, when the duty upon the 
foreign article compared with the excise duty upon the domestic article was so small as 
it is to-day. On many manufactures the excise duty is larger than the import duties. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. The Senator's proposition upon its face may be so ; I have not 
examined during this session the details of the revenue laws ; but the importer pays 
hi-* tax in gold and the manufacturer pays his in paper. Taking the schedule, I hare no 
doubt the proposition of the Senator is true as to some articles, but taking the whole 
of the manufacturing interest of the country, I think it is not true. 

Mr. ANTHONY. I will say further, and it is the last time I shall presume on the in- 
dulgence of the Senator, that the manufacturer pays the excise duty in paper, but he 
pays it at the time when he manufactures the article. The importer pays the duty in 
gold, but he puts his goods into warehouse and pays the duty at the time that is most 
convenient to him and most embarrassing to the domestic producer. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I do not think there is any point in the remark of the Senator. 
I think the manufacturer pays his tax when he puts his goods upon the market. la 
that not so ? 



Mr. ANTHONY. Not always. 

Mr. liENDRRICKS. Does he pay his tax before he desires to sell his goods ? 

Mr. ANTHONY. He does in some cases, not before he desires to sell them, but be- 
fore lie can sell them. 

Mr. HrlNDRICKS. Very true. I say when he proposes to put his goods upon the 
market he pays his tax, and the importer when he proposes to put his goods upon the 
market pays his tax. 

Mr. ANTHONY. The manufacturer pays his tax before he puts his goods on the 
market. He has to pay his tax as he manufactures the goods, every month. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. Of course he has to pay his tax before he puts his goods in 
market, because he cannot sell until he pays his tax, nor can the importer sell his 
goods until he pays his duties. He cannot take them out of the bonded warehouse 
until he pays his duties. 

Mr. SPRAGUE. Permit me to state that there are manufacturers in this country 
who have paid their tax a year prior to the time they sold their goods ; that there are 
cases where there have been live or six taxes paid to the Government on domestic goods- 
six or seven months prior to the time the manufacturers sold them. That is common, 
and known to the manufacturing and business interests all over the country. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I do not intend to discuss that particular feature of the revenue 
system of the United States any further. I believe the general statement to be true, 
that the revenue system adopted within the last five years is oppressive to the West, 
hard upon agriculture, and favorable to manufactures. I do not intend to go into an 
elaborate discussion of that question. If the revenue laws are again brought before 
the attention of the Senate, I propose to investigate them to show just how and to 
what extent this is so. I have attributed it to the fact that agriculture is not repre- 
sented in the House, and that this amendment propeses permanently to exclude a large 
interest to a considerable extent from representation in the House. 

Now, Mr. President, if it is right to change the representation in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, that is, to disturb the foundations of the Government so as to re-adjust re- 
presentation, and, as Senators claim, to make it equal and just, why is it not equally 
right to disturb the representation in the Senate ? I know very well the reply will be 
that the Constitution itself forbids an amendment of that instrument in respect to re- 
presentation in the Senate ; but, sir. the power that made that provision can unmake 
it ; the power to amend the Constitution can reach that very provision and change the 
representation in the Senate. I know it is said that representation in the Senate is one 
of the Federal features of the Government ; but that argument has lost its force when 
we are taught in these latter times that State rights are not to be respected, and that 
all power is now in the Federal Government. Suppose we undertake *to make repre- 
sentation in the Senate equal, how would it stand? The six New England States, with 
a population of 3,135,253, have twelve Senators in this body, while the six great agri- 
cultural States of the West — Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, and Missouri — ■ 
have a population of 8,414,525, with a representation of twelve Sonators. With nearly 
three times the population of New England, we have the same representation. If those 
States have this advantage in this body, is it fair to tiy to cut off the representation 
of agriculture in the other end of this capitol ? While Indiana has a population of 
1,35U,428, Ehode Island — a glorious, gallant little State — has a population of 174,620. 
So far as representation in the Senate is concerned, one man in Rhode Island has a voice 
and power in the legislation of this country equal to eight men in Indiana. Taking the 
entire i^ew England States, one man in New England has the voice and power in legisla- 
tion in the Senate of nearly three men in the West. Is that right, is that just, when 
you are talking about equality of representation? I do not want to change that fea- 
ture in our Government. I wish to stand by the State representation as our fathers 
established it. I do not want to take any of the political power from New England that 
our fathers agreed she might have. I will stand by their representation as firmly as 
they will, but I do not like that they shall ask to reduce the representation of the West 
and Southwest. 

This, then, Mr. President, as I have said, is a proposition, first, to perpetuate the 
rule and power of a political party ; in the second place, it is a proposition the ten- 
dency of which is to place agriculture under the control and power of manufactures 
and commerce forever ; and, in the third place, it is intended, I believe, as a punish- 
ment upon the southern States. Why will Senators say that the southern States may 
give to the colored people the right to vote and then they will be fully represented? 
Senators know very will that the southern white people cannot do that. They know 



very well that in two of the southern States, South Carolina and Mississippi, the colored 
population is larger than the white population, and they know that it is impossible for 
a white population to remain in either of those States if you place the colored man 
upon a platform, of political equality with the white man. Sir, it is impossible. In- 
stead of being controlled by white men, those two States would fall under the control 
of the colored people. Their legislatures would be filled by colored people ; Congress 
would be filled, so far as Representatives came from those States, by colored people ; 
and colored men would be sent as Senators to this body if those States were forced to 
give political power to them. There is, then, no propriety in Senators saying that the 
southern States can confer the right to vote upon the colored people. , It is impossible 
for them to do it. In the condition of their society it canuot be. 

Then this proposition is simply to take from them a representation upon that portion 
of their population, and to adopt a rule in regard to them different from the rule that 
applies to the people of the North. We have from fifteen to twenty Representatives 
in the House of Representatives based upon a non-voting population. The same rep- 
resentation upon a non-voting black population you propose unjustly to deny to the 
South. Theu, sir, is it a punishment ? Now that war is over, now that the southern 
people have laid down their anus, now that they have sought to come again fully and 
entirely into the Union, now that they have pledged their honors and their fortunes 
to be true to the Union and to the flag, now that they have done all that can be done 
by a conquered people, is it right, after a war has been fought out, for us to take from 
them their political equality in this Union for the purpose of punishment 1 The Sena- 
tor from Maine, the chairman of the committee, says that the right to control the suf- 
frage is with the»States, but if the States do not choose to do right in respect to it, we 
propose to punish them. You do not punish New York for not letting the foreigner 
vote until he resides there a certain period. You do not punish Indiana because she 
will not allow a foreigner to vote until he lias \^n\ in the country a year. These 
States are not to be punished because they regulate the elective franchise according to 
their sovereign pleasures ; but if any other States see fit to deny the right of voting 
to a class that is peculiarly guarded and taken care of here, then they are to be 
punished. 

Mr. President, in this idea of punishment I think I may venture to say that Senators 
do not reflect the gallant army that has been recently disbanded. That army fought 
in a high cause, as they thought, and when the enemy fell down before them as a great 
army, they felt that they should proteet them ; and you cannot find a bold soldier in 
the North who would take advantage of his prisoner and punish him. But we, as a 
nation, because we have succeeded in the great controversy, because we have subju- 
gated the Southern States, because they are conquered, in the language of some gen- 
tlemen, because they have laid down their arms, now propose to punish them inaman- 
ner unknown to the law heretofore. 

Mr. President, as a punishment this thing cannot be done without violating the 
principles of humanity, as I have said, and the great principles of the common law, 
and the principle of the Constitution of the United States. That instrument provides 
that no ex post facto law shall lie passed. That means that no law shall be passed pun- 
ishing an act which was innocent at the time it was done, or punishing it by penalties 
not prescribed at the time the act was done, or punishing it upon less testimony than 
was required to convict at the time the act was done. 

Now, sir, you say that these people have been in rebellion, that they have committed 
a great crime, which I agree to. How are they to be punished ? They have been pun- 
ished in that manner known to nations as the highest punishment that can be inflicted. 
They have gone through the battle and they have been defeated. They come before 
us as a conquered people ; and this is the punishment, if this is to be regarded as a 
war between belligerents, Do S?nators claim that prisoners of war taken by one bel- 
ligerent from the army of the other can be punished because they are prisoners of war ? 
That is a sentiment of the barbarous ages which, thank God, has passed forever, so far 
as Europe and America are concerned. One reason why I would like to see Maximilian 
driven from American soil is that he violates a sentiment that every American respects, 
and puts prisonars of war to death. 

Now, Mr. President, is it possible that Senators will say, that in this condition of the 
country they are going to change the. Constitution of the United States for the purpose 
of punishment or to gratify revenge ? Is there such a sentiment here I If there be 
one here, there is not among the soldiers at home. If a soldier were to see a wrong 
being done to his captive he would interfere at the risk of his life to prevent that wrong. 



10 

Let that sentiment be respected here. Let equality, justice, and right prevail in our 
legislation, especially in regard to amendments of the Constitution which must stand. 

The Senator from Oregon [Mr. Williams] spoke yesterday of punishing States. 1 
■wish he were here, sir. That Senator dwells far off, his laud resting upon the peaceful 
waters of the Pacific, and intervening mountains cast their shadow over his home and 
the homes of his people. I presume there is not a colored man in that country. If 
Indiana sees lit in her sovereign pleasure to deny to the ten or twenty or thirty thous- 
and negroes in that State the right to vote, he, from Oregon, proposes to punish 
Indiana! What has he to do with suffrage in Indiana!' We do not let them vote, 
and unless you compel us to do it, we propose never to do it ; and yet he says there is 
to he punishment for it. I do not like that word "punishment" between States of 
this Union. You have no right to punish a State because it does that according to its 
own pleasure which it has a right to do. If a State, as was admitted by the Senator 
from Maine, has a right to control the question of suffrage, no Congress has a right to 
control her in the exercise of her power. But I wish to speak of that in another connec- 
tion. 

Is this a measure to coerce? On that point I desire to read what the Senator from 
Maine said. First, it is to punish, and in the second place to coerce, to do indirectly 
that which you cannot do directly. Let us see what the Senator said : 

"But, sir, the great excellence of it" — 

That is, this amendment of the Constitution. I think he might have left off the ad- 
jective. 

"But, sir, the great excellence of it — and I think it is an excellence — is, that it accom- 
"plishes indirectly what we may not have the power to accomplish directly." 

I presume this is the first time in the Senate of the United States that a boast was 
made, and it was claimed as a virtue for a measure, that it accomplished indirectly 
what could not be done directly. What the body has not the power to do directly, we 
boast we can do indirectly ! Let me read the rest of the Senator's sentence, and you 
will see what he means : 

"If we cannot put into the Constitution, owing to existing prejudices and existing 
"institutions, an entire exclusion of all class distinctions, the next questionis, can we 
" accomplish that work in any other way ? " 

Why can you not put it in the Constitution directly, as the Senator from Missouri 
[Mr. Uekdbbson] proposes to do? As much as I dislike his measure, I like it for its 
boldness and its frankness ; and all men, when they come to reflect a little about it, I 
think will admire it ior those qualities. But the Senator says, "Because of existing 
prejudices we cannot amend the Constitution to give the right of suffrage to colored 
people, and therefore we will do this thing indirectly." Whycanyou not do it directly? 
Because of the prejudices of the people ; or, in other words, because the people will not 
let you do it ; but as the people are against it we will do it indirectly. Was ever such 
an argument as that heard in the Senate of the United States — an argument in favor of 
amending the Constitution of the United States — that it does a thing' indirectly that we 
cannot do directly ! Indirection, I thought, was always a vice. I have always observed 
when I went into court to defend a client that if there was anything in his conduct that 
brought about a result by indirection the jury was sure to beat my case. They would 
say, " If he has been in the right, if he has had a fair contract, why has he not met it 
directly, and why is there indirection and shifting and winding in the business ?" So 
I say to the Senator, if he cannot go before the American people with his amendment, 
and say to them, "Here is a proposition, based upon humanity and right; here are 
four million people that ought to be allowed to vote, and you are expected to come up 
and indorse the right." But he says he cannot carry it in that way, and he proposes 
a coercion upon the southern States, that they shall be compelled to do it. My col- 
league proposes to vote for it ; and why ? His voice has never been heard in Indiana 
to enfranchise the ten thousand negroes there ; and although his party was in power 
in the lower House of the Legislature by a very large majority they could not pass it 
at the session just adjourned in that State. But here by indirection you propose to 
give the right of suffrage when all admit the negroes are not as well qualified as they 
are in the northern States. Up to this time, five States of the Union have allowed the 
elective franchise to the negro, and thirty-one have denied it ; one out of seven have 
allowed it ; and uow the Senator says he dare not go before the Legislatures for the 



11 

ratification of the direct proposition ; but he will wrap this thing up — I was going to use 
an expression which I decline to use — he will so cover up his proposition as that the 
people will not understand the full force of it ; or, in other words, so that he can ap- 
peal to the selfishness of the northern people to do in respect to other States what they 
will not do in re-pect to themselves, and thus carry a measure that will secure politi- 
cal power forever. Senators, do yon concur in a proposition like that ? Can an Indi- 
anian go before the Indiana Legislature and say, "Senators and Representatives, you 
must coerce the southern States to give the right of voting to the negro, but you must 
not give that right here at home." That is what the Senator's proposition means. 
" We cannot trust these northern Legislatures, because they will not agree to the thing 
directly ; but if we leave them out of it and make it applicable alone to the southern 
Stat s, then we will get it through in some way." 

Mr. President I ask Senators the question : have the States, under the Constitution, 
the right to control the elective franchise? Does any Senator here question it? The 
Senator from Massachusetts does. He thinks that Congress may control the right of 
suffrage in the States, and upon the question of logic, I think he has the advantage 
of the majority of this body. Last week, or the week before, Senators voted for a bill 
which they 'themselves said was not constitutional except under the recent amendment. 
That amendment provided that slavery should be abolished and that Congress should 
have power to adopt appropriate legislation to carry it out : and you said that under 
that provision Congress had the power not only to declare the negro a freeman, but to 
go father, to go into the States and give him the right to testify in the State courts, 
and you did that upon the argument that it was necessary in order to protect him in 
his freedom. Was not that your argument ? Then, when the Senator from Massachusetts 
says, " You may go still further ; the right to testify iu the courts is important to pro- 
tect the colored man in his freedom, but the right to vote is more important, ''do you 
Senators, deny that the right to vote is more important to protect the liberty of a man 
than the right to testify ? Who denies that ? Give the colored men of a State the right 
to vote, and if at all numerous they became a power in the States. They do not have 
to go to the Legislature and beg ; they' go there as the sovereigns, the makers of leg- 
islators, and say to those legislators, "You shall not come back here again unless you 
do us justice." Is not that the highest guarantee that can be given to a man for his 
liberty' and his rights ? I understand that to be the argument of the Senator from 
Massachusetts. If you said that in the exercise of your judgment to protect the freedom 
of the negro it was necessary to give him the right to testify in the courts, the Sen- 
ator from Massachusetts has a right to demand your vote upon the other proposition, 
that the right to vote is important to protect him in his liberty and in his rights. I 
am not embarrassed by this question, for I did not vote for that bill. I do not Jbelieve 
in the construction that you put upon the constitutional amendment. I do not believe 
it authorizes such legislation, and therefore I am not embarrassed by it ; but I think 
that when other Senators come to vote upon the proposition of the Senator from Mas- 
sachusetts they will find some embarrassment. 

Before this digression I was asking the question, does any Senator deny that the 
States can control the right of suffrage ? If that is a Constitutional right in the States, have 
you a right by any influence to attempt to control the States in its exercise ? Can you send 
force into Indiana and demand of her Legislature that they shall enfranchise the colored 
men ? Certainly not. Can you go into the Legislature of Indiana and persuade them to do 
that thing ? Can you go there as a Senator for that purpose ? Certainly not. Then can 
you seiiaabribe into the Legislature of Indian '.to intluencethe action of that body upon a 
subject over which it has exclusive control ? You say to Indiana, " You adopt a particu- 
lar policy and you shall have enlarged representation in the House of Representatives " 
You say to Kentucky, " If you will adopt a particular policy in regard to a question 
over which you have exclusive control, we will bribe you by giving you a larger repre- 
sentation in the House." Sir, it is worse that force ; it is a bribe, a bribe of political 
power. The remark was made by a Senator — I think by the Senator from Maine — 
'•You know the desire of men for power, and especially political power;" and that is 
the influence that is to be held out before independent States ! Take Kentucky, which 
has a large colored population, a population so large that the enfranchisement of the 
colored people would materially affect the policy of the State, and the question is for 
that State to decide, shall they be voters? That is her question. We say so here. 
Kentucky is sovereign upon that question We in Congress say to Kentucky, "You 
have that right, and we admit you have the exclusive right ; it is so written in the Con- 
stitution ; now, Kentucky, you have at present nine Representativos ; if you eufran- 



12 

chise the colored people of your State you shall have ten ; but if you do not you shall 
have btit four or five or six." That is the influent e which my distinguished friend from 
Maine says it is proper should be exercised. That is the indirection, that the Federal 
Government shall use its power to bribe a State by the oiler of additional political in- 
fluence in this Union ii" she would adopt a policy agreeable to us. I cannot believe that 
Senator.- will be influi need by that argument, although presented with so much ability ; 
it is certainly impossible. 

But, Mr. President, do we want to make all the colored people voters ? I am very free 
to say that 1 do not. I do not want to make any of them voters. I am not going to 
discuss the question whether the colored man is the equal of the white man. I think 
there need be no discussion on a question like that. But without reference to that, 
without refer, nee to the question of equality, I say that we are not of the same race ; 
we are so different that we ought not to compose one political community. Had the 
white men of this country a right to establish a Government and thereby a political 
community ! If so, they had a right to say who should be members of that political 
community. They had a right to exclude the ^colored man if they saw fit. Sir, I say, 
in the language of the lamented Douglass, and in the language of President Johnson, 
this is the white man's Government, made by the white man, for the white man. I 
am sot ashamed to stand behind such distinguished men in maintaining a sentiment 
like that. Nor was my judgment on the subject changed day before yesterday by the 
lamentations of the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark] sounding through this 
body like the wailing of the winds in the dark .forest, "that it is a horrible thing for a 
man to say that this a white man's Government," and asking " would you have said so 
down in front of Petersburg?" or "would you have said so at the funeral of the colored 
soldiers?" &c. 

Mr. President, there is a great deal said about the part the colored soldiers have ta- 
ken in putting down this rebellion, a great deal more than there is any occasion for, or 
there is any support for in fact or history. This rebellion was put down by the white sol- 
diers of this country, [applause in the galleries.] 

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. Pomeroyin the chair. J) Order must be preserved 
in the galleries. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. And it is not right to tear the laurels from white brows to put 
them on the brows of the colored people ? They did not put down the rebellion. It 
was the white men that did it. I am asked if they did not both do it. I do not know 
that they both did it. I know that there was an attempt to take Port Hudson, and 
that, there was ho taking it when the colored soldiers were in the front. I think it 
possible, from my reading of that transaction, that they were placed in a hazardous 
position, where they should not have been placed. When the mine was blown up at 
Petersburg, there was a good deal of boasting for a few days as to what had been ac- 
complished by the colored soldiers, and a good deal of comparison between the colored 
soldiers and the white soldiers, much to the prejudice of the latter : but when we came 
to know all about it we found that the colored soldiers did not accomplish much. The 
suppression of this rebellion was a great undertaking, and it took all the. intelligence, 
the physical i>ower, and the courage of the white men of this country to accomplish it. 
It was accomplished, and it is distasteful to me to hear claimed for a race that did but 
very little in it the honors that belong to the white men who were in the army. 

Now, sir, { am not in favor of giving the colored man a vote, because I think we 
siiouid remain a political community of white people. I do not think it is for the good 
of either race that we should attempt, to make the Government a mixed Government 
of white and black. I do not think it is for the good of the black man. I do not be- 
lieve that the black mau can maintain himself in that strife between him and the white 
man which that policy will establish. When it does come to a strife, we know what 
the result will be. We know when there comes that strife of races between the white 
men of the United States, the mixture of the best blood of Europe on this continent, 
and the black men, what will be the fate of the black man. I do not want it to come. 
[ want a just policy, a fair policy, a safe policy, just to us, just to them, safe to us, safe 
to them, to be adopted now that they are thrown in this new position and relation. But 
f am not in favor of placing over the white man such a government as the Freedmen's 
Bureau establishes for such an end. I am not in favor of attempting to mix these races. 
I want to see the white race kept a. white race, and the ruling power in this country. 

My colleague used a strong expression on this subject. That I may do him no in- 
justice 1 will read his words : 

"If you wish to avoid a war of races, if you wish to produce harmony and peace 
" among these people, you must enfranchise them all." 



13 

That is a speech that I think he has never made in Indiana, and I am a little curious 
to see the impression it will make when he first repeats it there. I know very well 
my colleague will never repeat it with any argument drawn fiom the military achieve- 
ments of the colored men in support. I think he will never make an argument tl*at 
they are entitled to it because they have done so much toward achieving the results- of 
the war. But in support of the proposition my colleague reads from Chancellor Kent. 
He says : 

" Chancellor Kent is still more explicit on the present point, for he says distinctly : 
" If a slave born in the United States be manumitted, or otherwise lawfully dis- 
charged from bondage, or if a black man be born within the United States, and born 
free, he becomes thenceforward a citizen." — Kent's Commentaries, 4th edition, p. i257, 
note." 

My colleague stops there. That is not the question that we are discussing whether 
he is a citizen or not. A man may be a citizen and not a voter. He may be a voter 
and not a citizen. But my colleague stops at a comma, '^e ought to have read to a 
period and then he would have read to the Senate the following : 

" But under such disabilities as the laws of the States respectively may deem it ex- 
" pedient to prescribe to free persons of color." 

That is the entire sentence, that if they are made free they are citizens, hut under 
such disabilities as the States may choose to prescribe. 

Mr. LANE, of Indiana. Will my colleague permit me a moment ? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. Certainly. 

Mr. LANE, of Indiana, Is not the power of the State to prescribe conditions pre- 
cisely the same in regard to all citizens, whether white or black ? 

Mr. HKND RICKS. That is not the question I am discussing. It has not been a quesiion 
in dispute whether the State had control of the elective franchise. It is absolute and com- 
plete. We say that when a foreigner comes to Indiana, after he has been in this country 
twelve months and in the State a certain length of time, he shall vote, because the peo- 
ple see fit to say so ; and they could, in the exercise of their power, have said three 
years instead of one. I do not dispute that the State has the control of the entire ques- 
tion. I believe I have answered my colleague. 

My colleague, in support of his proposition that we must allow all men to vote, reads 
from Kent, that the colored people when manumitted become citizens, and I read the 
rest of the sentence, that they become citizens under such disabilities as the State may 
choose to prescribe. The difference between my colleague aud myself is this ; that I 
think the State has the right, she may at her pleasure discriminate when she comes to 
give the elective franchise, between the white men and the colored men, and I am in 
favor of the discrimination as she has made it. 

Mr. YATES. I wish to address this question to the Senator from Indiana : whether, 
if I, as a citizen of Illinois, shall remove to Indiana and make 1113- domicile there, there 
is any power in the Legislature of the State of Indiana to disfranchise me entirely ? 
I admit that it can impose qualifications of residence ; but is their power in the Legi>la- 
ture of the State of Indiana to disqualify me entirely, to exclude me from the franchise 
forever ? That is the question. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. Mr. President, if the distinguished Senator from Illinois should 
ever come to the State of Indiana, I have no doubt that he will be treated by the peo- 
ple of the State with all the courtesy that his high position in the country requires, 
and which he is entitled to. I do not think there would be any disposition in exercis- 
ing the powers of the State to disfranchise any white man. 

Mr. YATES. Could they do it ? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I shall not answer that question, for I understand very well the 
next question the Senator is going to propose, and as that is a judicial question, I am 
going to leave that until the Supreme Court of the United States shall decide it, and 
perhaps the question will come up from the State of Indiana. We exclude colored 
people from the State by ourconstitirtionand laws. If they come in contravention of the 
constitution, we deny them the right to vote. By a law passed at the last session of 
the Legislature, passed by the House of Representatives as well as the Senate, the 
House being largely Republican, it is enacted that the negro may testify in the courts 
of the State provided he came into the State before that constitutional provision was 
enacted ; but if he has come in since, he shall not testify. These questions bring up 
the very one that the Senator is alter. I am not speaking of the white people of In- 



14 

diana. I am speaking about the right of the State to 'control the elective franchise, 
especially in regard to the colored people, answering the point that my colleague made 
in his citation from Kent. 

Now, Mr. President, are these eleven States of the South in the Union? If not, 
what need is there that we shall amend the Constitution ? Why amend the Constitu- 
tion in respect to eleven States wheu you do not allow them to be represented here? 
If you hold that these States are in the Union, and if you intend ever to let them be 
represented here, is it not fair to let them be represented before you change the organic 
law to their prejudice ? Is it not right that the humblest man, the poorest man, the 
guiltiest man shall he heard in his defense? 

The criminal that sheds human blood upon your streets, you will not condemn to 
death until he has had an opportunity to be heard. You cannot cover up human na- 
ture with so much of crime and guilt as that you will deny his voice when he asks to 
be heard. Then, sir, if eleven States wish to be heard, if eleven States stand at the 
door of your Capitol and ask admission, that they shall be heard before you amend 
the Constitution to their prejudice, will you deny them that hearing ? You deny that 
to them which you concede as a natural right to the poorest, the meanest, the vilest, 
and the wickedest of our race. If they are not here, we had better not legislate for 
them, if we do not intend to let them come back. My colleague upon that subject 
has used the following very eloquent language : 

" If these rebel States constituted stars on your flag, they were as the lost Pleiades 
" gone darkling through space, unobservant to any human eye. Tiiey could not be 
"detected by the mightiest telescopic power that the judiciary of the country has ever 
"been able to bring to bear upon them. They were not only out of the Union, but 
" they were substantially and to all intents and purposes out of existence ; and so the 
"President must have regarded them to his proclamation." 

That is a very beautiful figure, comparing these States to a system of planets going 
around the central power, the Federal Government. My colleague claims that these re- 
volving stars have shot from their orbits, are lost, out of existance. Why, sir, to carry 
out his figure as drawn from astronomy a little further, what are the powers that keep 
the stars in their orbits ? First, there is velocity that Goo* has given them, which 
tends to throw them off in straight lines, and then there is the attraction to a common 
center tending to bring them to that common center, and the two powers operating 
equally they are held to their orbits. In the States there is a tendency, from an exag- 
gerated view of State rights, to go otf, but then there is the central power to hold them 
within the Union. Has the central power during the last five years been less* than 
heretofore ? The constitutional obligation is one of the central powers, the interest of 
each State to stand by the whole is another of the' powers, but during these last five 
years we have resorted to the extraordinary power of war, and that war has brought 
them again within their orbits, aud they are seen by the feeblest vision in their posi- 
tion. 

As I said, Mr. President, it is not my province, nor perhaps would it be exactly in 
good taste for me to be the defender of the President in regard to his policy. I know 
nothing of his policy except as I have seen it in his acts, in his messages, and his pro- 
clamations. But in respect to these eleven States and his efforts to bring them into 
proper relations with the central Government. I do sustain him. I sustain him, not 
because I am of his party, but because I am of that common country which demands 
a restoration of this Union. 

My colle'ague and other Senators have attacked the President, in very courteous lan- 
guage, I admit, in language becoming a senator, in no coarse way, but in eloquent style 
5 and with force of argument, with regard to his policy establishing provisional govern- 
ments. For awhile I hesitated to give my approval to that policy. It is not strange 
that I should hesitate, because I opposed the acts of usurpation which characterized to 
some extent the last Administration ; but many of you Senators said these acts were 
right when the Constitution for the time being was not strictly regarded, when doubt- 
ful powers were exercised, and I can hardly see how you can find fault with the pres- 
ent Executive under circumstances of still greater embarrassment in the exercise of the 
powers to which he has resorted. I think the President did right in appointing pro- 
visional governors and setting up again the State governments ; and why ? I do not 
place it upon the war power. The war is over. It was over in May, when the Presi- 
dent issued these proclamations and appointed these provisional governors. I cannot 
place it upon any war power. 



15 

But, sir, it was the duty of the President, as it is the duty of Congress, to guaranty 
to the States their republic an* form of government, and certainly that involves the guar- 
antee of existance. When the war was over, when the people acknowledged them- 
selves obedient to the laws, these States were to some extent disorganized ; 
at least they were not iully organized under this Government ; their organiza- 
tion had relation more particularly to the southern confederacy. The President finding 
them in this condition desired to bring them back, and he gave them all the 
aid and support he could in their efforts for that purpose. As an illustration, I will 
address the learned Senator from Ohio, the head of the Territorial Committee, In orga- 
nizing a territorial government, where does he find the express power in the Constitu- 
tion ? He does not find it there. It is not written that Congress may establish a gov- 
ernment for the Territories, nor can he find it in the power that gives control over the 
public lands. That relates to property ; but Congress is authorized to admit new 
ttates into the Union. [Air. Wade nodded assent.] I am glad that tin distinguished 
Senator agrees with me in that proposition. Congress has power to admit new States 
into the Union, and under that power Congress may set up such a government for the time 
being, for the temporary purpose of enabling the people of a Territory to form a State 
government. If for the purpose of enabling the people to form a State Constitution 
with a view to come into the Union. Congress may set up a provisional government in 
the Territory ; why is it under the power, or the duty rather, which is imposed upon 
Congress and upon the President to guaranty the existance of the States already in the 
Union, that that power shall not be exercised by the President by s-tting up a provis- 
ional government to enable the people in all respects to'plaee their States in proper re- 
lations to the Federal Government ? 

Mr WADE. But suppose the State governments stood intact ; then how came the 
power in the President? Suppose his doctrine is true ; that the State government al- 
ready existed as soon as peace was established. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I am not sure that the President ever said that the State govern- 
ments already stood in their proper position. I rather think that the Senator has used 
a word that the President did not. 

Mr. WADE. I will ask the Senator what his doctrine is upon that subject. 
Mr. HENDRICKS. I thought you referred to the opinion of a more important per- 
son. I misunderstood the Senator. 

Mr. W T ADE. Because it would not do for the President of the United States to set 
up provisional governors in Indiana, Ohio, or any other State that had not seceded. 
Why is it that he has the power to do it in these Southern States if they occupied the 
same position when the war was- over as they did before ? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. It is very clear that the President cannot appoint a governor in 
Indiana nor in Ohio, because those States are in a perfect state of organization. A war 
has not disturbed the State organization. But I think the President hold, and I think 
it is true, that a State as a State cannot cease to exist. There may be a government 
de facto for four years, and when the government cle jure returns it is established, and 
it then simply wants the organization, the machinery, and for the temporary purpose 
-of enabling the people to act, the President furnishes them a provisional governor. 
Under this power 1 think the President was justified in appointing these gover- 
nors, to enable the people to fully organize and set in motion the State governments 
and place the States in all respects in proper relation to the Federal Government. 

Mr. HOWE. Will the Senator allow me to ask him a single question, if it is not 
going to embarrass him ? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. Certainly. If I find it is embarrassing, I shall not answer it. 
Mr. HOWE. Upon this point I have been extremely anxious to have some Senator 
explain what necessity there was for reorganizing what the Senator calls the government 
of one of those States. Take the State of South Carolina. What was the matter with 
the government of that State that it had to be reorganized ? She having a Governor 
and her judges having all the officers belonging to the government of a State, what was 
the necessity for reorganizing it ? 

Mr HENDRICKS. I will answer that directly. I want to notice the position of my 
collegue, and in noticing that I think I shall answer the Senator from Wisconsin. My 
collegue says, taking the State of North Carolina for illustration, that North Carolina 
cannot be admitted here because she has not now a valid State government which we 
can recognize, and he argues it thus : that the government of North Carolina up to 
ISfil was a State government under the Constitution and laws of the United States ; 
that it was a valid government and a valid State constitution up to that time ; then the 
war came and then there was a government established, he says, for the purpose <"* 



16 

placing that State in relations with the southern confederacy, and the effect of that was 
to abolish, repeal, or abrogate the old law. I do not know about that. I think that 
the laws of a government de facto continue in force in relation to private interests 
and pi ivate matters and not political at all after the government de facto is gone, ami will 
he respected by the government dejure; but a law or constitution that is political in its 
character, that was connected with the revolution, that was for the purpose of putting 
the State in relation with the southern confederacy, was ab initio invalid, it being part of 
the politicial machine which we do not regard as ever having had any validity. Then, 
I cannot quite see how an invalid constitution established by the people during th ere- 
bellion for the purpose of placing the State in relations with the southern confederacy, 
had the power and force to abrogate and abolish a conititution valid up to that time. 
.But I do not choose t6 consider that question. He may be right about that. But then 
he says that after the confederacy fell the constitution that is nov over the State of 
North Carolina had no legitimate origin, has no validity, and therefore does not place 
the State in proper relation to the United States Government. 1 believe I have his 
assent that that is a correct statement of his proposition. 

Now, sir, 1 do not believe that President Johnson himself could establish a State 
government. All that he could do was under the obligation to guaranty the existence 
of a State and its republican form. All that he could do would be to place the people, 
as far as was in his power, in a position to act themselves. When he does that, he ap- 
points a provisional governor. That provisional governor calls a Legislature together. 
He has no power to call a Legislature ; but under that call the people elect a Legisla- 
ture, and that Legislature calls a convention, if you please, or the governor calls a 
convention and the people of that State respond to the call, and a convention repre- 
senting the people fully and fairly is held for the purpose of establishing a State con- 
stitution, and that constitution is submitted to the people and approved by them in a 
fair vote. While it might be questioned whether the act of the governor in his pro- 
clamation for a Legislature and in his proclamation for a convention had any validity, 
yet, when the people acted upon it, and the people themselves establish a State consti- 
tution, it becomes as firm as the judgment and the will of the people can make it ; and 
that, too, upon the common principle of law that a man may assume to be your agent 
and to transact your business and have no authority to do it whatever, yet if you ap- 
prove his act it becomes your valid act. 

Mr. HOWE. The Senator does not quite touch the point. What I want to know of 
the Senator is, what necessity there was for setting aside, for instance, Governor Ma- 
grath, who was elected by the people of South Carolina, I do not recollect in what 
year, perhaps in lSlio' or 1864, and authorizing the same people to elect a new Gov- 
ernor ? Has the Senator any reason for supposing that the people who elected Mr. Orr 
to be Governor of South Carolina in 18u'5 were dissatisfied with the election which they 
had made a short time before of Mr. Magrath ? If they were not dissatisfied, where 
was the necessity for the President to authorize the same people who had elected Ma- 
grath to elect a new Governor ? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. That is not precisely upun the point I am discussing ; but I shall 
attempt to answer the Senator. Governor Magrath was a part of the political move- 
ment establishing a southern confederacy. 

Mr. HOWE. Now, what was the guilt, the name given to the crime which that in- 
volved him in, and what was the legal punishment for it ? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I am not discussing that question. That question the Senator 
knows very well goes before the courts. I might ask the Senator whetker there can 
be treason after belligerency is recogHized ; but I am not going to be called off, and it is 
not fair, allow me to say, to try to divert a Senator from his argument by asking him 
something that may be regarded as sharp. It has nothing to do with the question. 

Mr. HOWE. No, Mr. President 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I will not be interrupted further. Whether Governor Magrath 
was a traitor or not has nothing to do with the question as to whether the constitution 
of North Carolina is valid. I am always willing and very well pleased to have Sena- 
tors interrupt me in the few remarks I occasionally make, but I want it to be upon the 
subject I am discussing. That is fair to me ; it is fair to the subject. 

Mi-. CLARK. Will the Senator allow me to interrupt him right upon the point, if I 
understand it ? 

Mr. HKiN'DRI'^KS. Certainly. 

Mr. CLARK. I understand the Senator to say that though the act of the President 
appointing provisional governors might not have any special validity, yet when the 
people of a State acted upon it by-electing a Legislature and Governor, it would be a 



17 

valid act of the people. I meant to inquire how it was that after the people had elected 
a Governor in some of these States and elected a Legislature, the President still, in de- 
fiance of what the people in those States had done, kept the provisional Governor in 
power and refused to recognize the Legislature until they had done certain things. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. That is not the question I am discussing either, Mr. President. 

Mr. CLARK. Then I misapprehend the question. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. The Senator did misapprehend the question. If the President of 
the United States attempted to control the action of the Legislature where the Legisla- 
ture was fully organized, and after the people ljad elected their Governor pursuant to 
his plan, it was an act which he was not justified, in my judgment, in doing under the 
circumstances. 

Mr. CLARK. I have my question answered. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. That is my answer. It is nothing hut an opinion. No doubt he 
thought whatever he did was right. I say the President had a right to do what was 
necessary to be done to place the people, in their disorganized condition, in a position 
to continue the State of North Carolina as a State and place it in proper relations with 
the United States. Then the States had to be }daced in proper relations to the Federal 
Government, and the President has attempted to do that. Now — I do not care about 
the tiena or answering now, but at his leisure — I will ask the Senator from Wis- 
consin this question : if the President could not confer any legal power upon the pro- 
visional governor and the provisional governor without any legal authority called a 
convention, and the people responded by electing delegates, and the delegates made a 
constitution which the people indorsed, is that not a valid constitution ? 

Mr. HOWE. I should like to answer the question now, if the Senator would prefer it. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. Very well ; I have no objection. 

Mr. HOWE. It that was a State in which that thing was done, like the State of 
Ohio and the State of New York, where the people have prescribed in their organic acts 
when and how their constitutions maybe altered, and the President of the United States 
had interfered, and in defiance of the provisions of their organic acts had summoned 
the people, or a part of the people, to form a new constitution, and set up a new gov- 
ernment overthrowing the existing one, I should say it was utterly illegal, utterly void, 
ar,d revolutionary. That is what I should say if South Carolina was such a State as 
these. I do not say these acts are to be characterized in that way, because I say South 
Carolina was not a State. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. The Senator is known to us all as quite as clear-headed a gentle- 
man as we could find anywhere, and it is astonishing that it requires so many " ifs" to 
answer a straight question. 

Mr. HOWE. Only one. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. The question was, if the people of the State have elected the 
convention, do not they breathe validity into the acts of that convention ; and especial- 
ly if the constitution is submitted to them and they vote for it, do they not breathe the 
breath of political life and power into that instrument ? There is as far as I choose to 
go. There is where I rest it. The President, for the purpose of placing the people in 
a position to place their State governments in proper relations to Federal Government, 
has done what he did, and then the people take it up, and they make the State con- 
stitution — a thing that no President can do. It is the voice of the people that makes a 
State government. Then that State government is established, established at the re- 
quest of the President, if you please. Why is not that a valid constitution and State 
government ? That is the argument that I present to my colleague. He took the 
ground that the governor being appointed without sufficient authority on the part of the 
President, and issuing a proclamation that he could not properly issue, therefore no 
legal government could result from it. Sir, how does the State of California appear 
here to-day. After the conquest from Mexico she never had a territorial government. 
Her birth was in military rule. A military commander inaugurated proceedings, and 
then the people took hold and established a State constitution, and Congress took the 
people of the State by the hand, not because the military governor had any power, not 
that he was appointed military governor, but that the people had acted upon his sug- 
gestion and the act of the people made a valid and powerful State government, which 
is now the pride of the Union. 

Mr. President, this doctrine of my colleague, that there are no States in the South, 
that they are lost stars, that they have gone out of existence, I think one of the most 
dangerous heresies of these times, and if persisted in will lead us over a precipice that 
I hope neither we nor our children shall ever see. The distinguished Senator from 
Kentucky [Mr. Guthkie] told you the other day that you could not govern eight mil- 



18 

lion people without representation. Do you think you can, permanently ? If so, the 
men of 1866 are not the men of 1776. Three million people because they were taxed 
without representation defied the power of England and threw down defiance at her 
feet. Does any Senator suppose it is possible to govern so large a country as the South, 
so numerous a population, so brave a people, so gallant a people as they have shown 
themselves to be in this contest with the grandest people on earth, our Northern sol- 
diers ? No, sir, it cannot be done. They must be brought into relations with this 
Government in every respect. 

But, Mr. President, I ask my colleague and I ask other Senators, how is it that you 
maintain the doctrine ? This war commenced in April, 1861, with the firing on Fort 
Sumter. Shortly after that there was a battle across the river here, at Bull Run. A 
few days alter that Congress passed a resolution declaring the purpose and policy of the 
Government in the prosecution of the war, and I will read it. Although it has been so 
frequently read in this body, yet it is a necessary part of any argument that can be 
made on the subject : 

" That this war is not prosecuted upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for 
''any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering 
"with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and main- 
" tain the supremacy of the Constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof, and 
"to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and the rights of the several 
"States unimpaired; that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to 
" cease." 

That was the battle-cry. When Congress passed that resolution almost unanimously — 
my coleague, I believe, supporting it, he then being a Senator from the State of Indi- 
ana — it was as if printed on every banner at the head of every regiment of your Army ; 
and wherever those banners were carried by the victorious hosts of the North that 
sentiment was carried. It was the boast of the soldier ; it was the boast of the brave 
commander everywhere that this was not a war of oppression, that this was not a war 
of subjugation, but it was a war to bring the States again into their proper relations to 
the United States, and that they should be brought in with all their rights, privileges, 
and dignity unimpaired. That is what you said to the country, Senators ; that is what 
the State Department said in its correspondence to the nations of the earth. And again, 
sir, President Lincoln, a year and a half later, in a proclamation to the country, dated 
September 22, 1862, used this language : 

"I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and Commander- 
" in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter 
" as heretofore the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the 
"constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States, and the peo- 
"ple thereof, in which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed." 

The purpose of the war, he said, was simply to bring the States into practical rela- 
tions again to the Government. In various acts you have recognized these States ; I 
will not trouble the Senate to repeat their provisions — among them were the act appor- 
tioning representation, and the act imposing taxes upon the people of the different 
States, and that act again referred to in the laws of 1864. These are instances in 
which Congress has recognized the States, but the great controlling action of Congress 
upon this subject is this resolution of 1861. 

Mr. President, you said to the gallant men in the ranks, " You are not called upon 
to fight in a war of aggression, you are called upon to hold up the Constitution of your 
country, you are called upon to fight to restore this Union, not to destroy;" and in 
that cause and for that cause they went forth ; they fought the battles ; and now that 
the battles have been fought, and now that they come home, many of them wounded 
and scarred, after standing upon the rough edge of a hundred battles, can you, Sena- 
tors, take that assurance back from them ; can you now say to them that this was not 
a war for the restoration of the Union, but it was a war for conquest, and we will hold 
these States as subjugated and conquered provinces ? When you do that you violate 
the highest faith of the nation, not only to the soldiers of the North, but the faith of 
the nation to the loyal men in the southern States, the faith of the nation to all the 
nations of the earth. 

How did my colleague, how did other Senators, come to vote a few weeks ago for a 
bill which you all admitted was not constitutional except under the provisions of the 
constitutional amendment ? The chairman of the committee who presented that bill 
said that the bill was not constitutional except for that amendment. He did not claim 



19 

constitutionally for it unless that amendment -was a part of the Constitution of the 
United States; and when did the amendment become a part cf the Constitution? 
When was it adopted ? When it received the vote of a portion of these southern 
states, together with the northern States, Mr. Seward published to the world that this 
amendment was adopted, because of the thirty-six States three-fourths had agreed 
to it. You Senators who claim that these States are out of the Union, are willing 
to act upon a constitutional amendment which has no validity unless you recognize 
the action of those States in respect to it. You say in the most solemn manner 
possible that these States are competent to approve a constitutional amendment, and 
you therefore adopt it as a part of the Constitution ; but now you say they are not in 
the Union to be represented. Is that right ? 

But my colleague with great ingenuity has referred to two instances in which he says 
Congress has ignored the existance of these States. The Senator from Ohio [Mr. Sher- 
man - ] proposed a resolution that a quorum of the Senate consists of a majority of the 
Senators duly chosen. My colleague says that these States were not represented in the 
Senate at the time and their existance was ignored by the adoption of this rule in the body. 
I think not ; the Senate at the time thought not. That was adopted May 4, 1S64. The 
Constitution provides that a majority of each House shall constitute a quorum. Now, 
what is a House ? What is a Hqjise as applied to the Senate ? A quorum of the Sen- 
ate is a majority of the Senate. In respect to the oth^r House there is no difficulty 
about this question, for the Constitution defines the House of Representatives as com- 
posed of ' ' members chosen every se ond year. " It is composed of members ' ' chosen, ' ' 
not of members that might be chosen and those that are chosen, but of those who in 
fact are chosen. But the language of the Constitution in regard to the Senate is a 
little more diffidult on this question. The Senate of the United States, the constitution 
says, shall be composed of two Senators from each State chosen by the legislature there 
of for six years. The language is "chosen." and the Senate adopted this rule upon 
the ground that Senators who were chosen constitute the Senate as a body. It was 
upon that principal that the resolution was adopted, and I think the debate, which was 
mainly maintained by the Senator from Maryland, [Mr. Johnson,] holds that ground. 
This resolution was not adopted upon any ground that the States were out of the 
Union, but upon the ground that the Senators who have been "chosen" composed the 
Senate. 

But my distinguished colleague has referred to another instance which I think he 
will find a little unfortunate for himself. He refers to the joint resolution of last winter 
in which we denied a vote to Louisiana and Tennessee in the Electoral College for 
President and Vice President. That resolution was reported to this body by the dis- 
tinguished Senator from Illinois, [Mr. Trumbull,] and it read: 

" Whereas the inhabitants and local authorities of the States of Virginia, North Car- 
"olina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, 
'• Arkansas, and Tennessee rebelled against the Government of the United States, and 
"have continued in a state of armed rebellion for more than three years, and were in 
" said state of armed rebellion on the 8th day November, 1864: Therefore, 

" Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Ame- 
"rica in Congress assembled. That the States mentioned in the preamble to this joint 
"resolution are not entitled to representation in the Electorial College for the choice of 
"President and Vice President of the United States for the term of office commencing 
" on the 4th day of March, 1865 ; and no electorial votes shall be received or counted 
"from said States concerning the choice of President and vice President for said term of 
"office." 

My colleague holds that this resolution ignores the existence of these States as States. 
Let us see. The gentleman who reported the resolution offered an amendment to strike 
out from the preamble the words "and have continued in a state of armed rebellion for 
more than three years, and were in said state of armed rebellion on the 8th day of Novem- 
ber, 1864," and to insert instead of them these words, "and were in such state of re- 
bellion on the 8th day of November, 1864." The Senator from Illinois, in maintaining 
this resolution which he reported, said : 

" The Committee on the Judiciary, by the amendment they have reported, propose 
" to alter the preamble somewhat. The object of this alteration is to avoid as far as 
"possible any committal upon the subject which the amendment of the Senator from 
"New Jersey brings up. The object of the amendment of the committee is simply to 
" put the preamble in such form that if it is adopted, and the resolution passed, Con- 
"gress will not have decided whether Louisiana is in the Union or out of the Union, 
" whether she is a State or not a State. It will be time enough to deoide that question 
" when it is presented to us." 



20 

Now, I will call my colleague's attention to an amendment that was offered by the 
Senator from New Jersey, (Mr. Ten Eyck. J Mr. Ten Eyck said : 

"I move to strike out of the preamble the word 'Louisiana.' I will simply state that 
" it is a matter of history that the state of Louisiana has reorganized, or at least attemp- 
" ted to do so, and in the opinion of many, and perhaps most, of the loyal citizens of 
"that State, has reorganized as a State." 

He said further : 

"My object in moving this amendment is, under this state of facts, that some oppor- 
tunity may be afforded to a loyal people who have suffered all the horrors of the re- 
" bellion, who have got the better of it and put it under foot, of coming back and 
" resuming their place in the councils of the nation." 

That is what Mr. Ten Eyck said in support of his amendment ; he said he wanted 
these people to have the right to vote for President of the United States ; the resolu- 
tion of the Senator from Illinois said that because of the rebellion on the 8th day of 
November, 1864, the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, and others, should not be allowed to cast a 
vote in the Electoral College for President and Vice President. The Senator from New 
Jersey, Mr. Ten Eyck, moved to strike Louisiana from tb^e list, and to give her a right 
to vote for President and Vice President. That brought the question up. In support 
of his amendment he urged that he wanted the loyal men of Louisiana to have an 
opportunity to place themselves properly in the Union, and that their voice should be 
heard. Some debate went on, and the vote was taken on Mr. Ten Eyck's amendment 
to strike out Louisiana from the disability, the effeut of which would have been to allow 
her to vote for President and Vice President. 

The vote being taken on the amendment was — yeas 16, nays 22. 

The yeas were — 

"Messrs. Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Farwell, Harlan, Harris, Howe, Lane of Indiana, 
"Lane of Kansas, Nesmith, Pomeroy, Ramsey. Ten Eyck, Van Winkle, and Willey." 

I voted against striking it out, for I did not think the government established there 
by General Banks at the point of the bayonet was such a government as we ought then 
to recognize. The question had been very fully discussed, and on those grounds I op- 
posed it ; but my colleague voted to strike Louisiana from the resolution, to allow 
Louisiana to cast her vote for the President of the United States in the Electoral Col- 
lege ; and upon what ground ? He now says she is not in the Union ; she is a lost star 
again wandering beyond the observance of any judicial telescope That is her present 
condition ; she is not to come here and plead her cause ; but last year before it was 
announced that political power was to be held and permanently secured before Louisi- 
ana or any other Southern State should come back, my colleague then voted as he 
thought was right, that Louisiana was a State in the Union, and that her vote for 
President cast on the 8th day of November, 1864, was a valid vote that ought to be 
counted. How is it that she is out of the Union now, but was in this Union then ? I 
shall not pursue that argument turther. 

vV hen, I ask, does my colleague propose that these States may come back ? Is this 
Union permanently dissolved ? My colleague repeats the question and says, " They can- 
not be admitted at present with benefit to themselves or safety to the nation," and he 
adds : 

" And the resurrection trump shall sound the summons of these rebels to the general 
"judgment before my voice or vote shall summon them to these Halls." 

"But, Mr. President, gentlemen ask us, when shall these States be restored?" 

Yes, Mr. President, gentlemen ask that ; two hundred and sixty thousand voters in 
Indiana ask it to-day ; one hundred thousand soldiers in Indiana ask the question ; 
the soldiers all over this country ask the question, when shall the fruit be gathered for 
which, we plowed southern soil ? When is this Union to be restored for which we 
fought and left many a comrade in a lonely grave behind ? That is the question that 
is being asked, and it is a question, Senators will allow me to say, which must be an- 
swered. When? My colleague says when the judgment trump shall sound, not be- 
fore, will he admit rebels. Then a generation must pass away. I say come back now ; 
in all cases where the people of the southern States have formed State governments, 
have maintained peace and obeyed the law, and ask that their States shall be placed 
in proper relation to the Federal Government, I say now, I say now as an avoidance of 
future trouble, restore the Union at once. 

But, Mr. President, my colleague asks for more blood. He says : 



21 

" But, Mr. President, gentlemen ask us, when shall these States be restored ? Not 
"by my vote, until all these constitutional guarantees are placed utterly beyond all 
"recall." 

When is that to be ? That is distinct enough. All these constitutional amendments 
must pass the ordeal of Congress, and then go before the States and take the round of 
years, until twenty-seven of the States approve them ; and not till then will my dis- 
tinguished colleague hear the petition of the States of the Union at the door of the 
Capitol — 

" Not until the leading traitors in this rebellion shall have been punished, and shall 
"have met the felon's doom." 

That is to be in the way. If the President will not cause to be hung all the men 
that my colleague thinks ought to be hung, he will not let the States come back at all ! 
Upon what ground is that based' ? 

But, Mr. President, we hear a good deal said about blood now. Yesterday the Sena- 
tor from Oregon [Mr Williams] criticised the President for his leniency toward the 
South. A few days ago the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Wade] made a severe criticism on 
the President for his leniency, and my colleague asks for blood. Mr. President, this 
war commenced with blood ; aye, blood was demanded before the war. When the 
good men and the patriotic, North and South, representing the yearning hearts of the 
people at home, came here in the winter and spring of lfcKJl in a peace ongress, if pos- 
sible to avoid this dreadful war, right then the Senator from Michigan [Mr. Chandler] 
announced to his Governor and the country that this Union was scarcely worth pre- 
serving without some blood-letting. His cry before the war was for blood. Allow me 
to say that when the Senator's name is forgotten because of anything he says or does 
in this body, in future time it will be borne down upon the pages of history as the au- 
thor of the terrible sentiment, that the Union of the people that our fathers had ce- 
mented by the blood of the Revolution and by the love of the people ; that that Union, 
resting upon compromise and concession, resting upon the doctrine of equality to all 
sections of the country ; that that Union which brought us so much greatness and 
power in the three-quarters of a century of our life ; that that Union that had brought 
us so much prosperity and greatness until we were the mightiest and proudest nation 
on God's footstool ; that that grand Union was not worth preserving unless we had 
some blood-letting. 

Mr. President, it is not the sentiment of the Senator's own heart ; it is the expression 
of a bitter political hostility ; but it will carry him down to immorality ; he is sure 
of living in history ; he has gained that much by it. Sir, the thirst was for blood be- 
fore the war, and now that the war is over, that these people have fallen upon their 
knees in your presence and say, "We are a conquered people, we acknowledge it, 
we promise our allegiance to the Government, we promise obedience to the law, we have 
sent our soldiers home, we call for no armies in our midst to keep us in obedience to 
the law, we ask again that our States shall come back into the council chamber of the 
nation," and the cry is," Blood! blood! blood!" 

Mr. SHERMAN. I would like to ask the honorable Senator a single question — 
whether he thinks it is an unreasonable demand for us, who are the victors in the 
contest, to say to them that we are willing to let them come back into the Union on 
precisely an aqual footing with ourselves, man for man, woman for woman, child lor 
child. All we propose to say to them is, that if by their law they will exclude from all 
political power a race who have aided us, we will not allow them to exercise political 
power for that race. That, as I understand it, is the whole question. Now, I ask the 
honorable Senator to say whether he thinks that is a hard condition to impose on 
them in coming back into the Union ? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I spent about half an hour, I think, of the time of the Senate, 
which I have occupied in discussing that very question, and trying to show why I 
thought it was not right and it was not expedient for the United States Government to 
attempt to control the right of suffrage in the States. If I failed in the course of 
that argument to satisfy the Senator, I cannot do it now, as I am about closing my 
argument. I am now discussing the question made by my colleague, whether these 
States shall be kept out until all the leaders of the rebellion have met a felon's doom. 
That is the proposition. I resist it. I ask that these States shall come in now. 
Congress has no control over the punishment of anybody ; that is with the Executive, 
if thn Executive has any control over it at all, or it is with the judiciary. You can 
judge for yourselves whether the reasons given by Chief Justice Chase why he will 
not hold courts in Virginia are satisfactory or not. You can judge for yourselves 
whether the reasons given by the Attorney General of the United States why the trial 
of Mr. Davis cannot take place outside of Virginia are sufficient. I do not choose to 



22 

discuss these questions. If my colleague and other Senators are not satisfied with the 
decision of the Attorney General, let them go and argue it with him. The Attorney 
General says that he cannot be tried properly outside of Virginia. I do not sup- 
pose that any Senator asks that anybody shall be punished except upon some trial. 
You do not want anybody to go to Fortress Monroe and shoot Jefferson Davis. If you 
want it done, let the man who wants it done in that way go and do it. I want him 
and all others that are to be punished to be put upon a trial before a court having 
jurisdiction of the cause ; where the proceedings, where the finding, where the exe- 
cution may be worthy of the great country and the great people with which we are 
connected. 

But, Mr. Presidentf these Senators want more blood, and they do not like the course 
of the President of the United States ; and how is it between them and the President ? 
I have spoken of the Senator from Oregon, he living out in the shades of the mountains 
and beyond them, and his people having seen but little of the hardships and terrors of 
this war. They scarcely knew of it. The sound of the cannon could not pass beyond 
the mountains. They would scarcely know of it if the tax-gatherer did not go there. 
The Senator from Michigan, [Mr. Howard,] the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. Wade,] my 
colleague, ask for more punishment upon rebels than the President is willing to give. 

Mr. HOWARD. I ask the Senator from Indiana what measure it is for which I have 
voted or spoken that he refers to. I certainly presented a resolution in this body re- 
commending respectfully to the President of the United States that he should put Jef- 
ferson Davis and others upon trial, not for treason, but for the crime of assassinating 
the late President of the United States, because the Secretary of War in an official re- 
port made to the President states expressly that he stands in that Department charged 
with the crime of inciting that assassination. Now, sir, I ask the Senator from Indiana 
whether he would or would not, if it were in his power, put Jefferson Davis aud his 
accomplices upon trial for that atrocious crime ; and if he would not, upon what 
ground it is that he has the assurance to charge other honerable men on this lioor with 
thirsting for blood, more blood, a cry that is too ridiculous to receive any further answer. 

Mr. HENDRICKS. If the Senator from Michigan is through I will answer him. If 
I were an officer of the Government upon whom the responsibility of deciding the 
question was thrown by the laws, and there was evidence before me that Jefferson 
Davis had been guilty of the offense of which the Senator speaks, I should certainly 
order him to be put on trial, if I had the authority so to order, before some court that 
had jurisdiction of the case ; and if the penalty was death, found by a court having 
jurisdiction, I should feel it my duty, and as pleasant a duty of that sort as the law 
could impose, to see that the penalty was executed. 

Mr. HOWARD. Upon what ground, then, does he charge other Senators who have 
supported the measure to which I have referred with merely thirsting for more blood ? 
If that is his opinion ; if he is willing to take blood, and would take it with pleasure, 
as he says he would, upon what ground does he make it a matter of reproach against 
others here that they would do the same thing ? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. The Senator has used one word that is not for the Senate, and if 
he were twice as old as he is I would throw it back to him. He asks upon what 
grounds I have the assurance to say a thing. Sir, I do whatever I think is right here, 
and in respect to it the Senator cannot use the word " assurance." [Applause in the 
galleries.] He is not entitled to do so. [Renewed applause.] Do not let him dictate 
to me. 1 have treated this subject fairly, and if h* does not want to be included 
among the Senators who have asked for blood I exclude him from that category. I 
have made my remarks now to my colleague ; I have been discussing my colleague's 
proposition, which I read and I will read it again. The question which my colleague 
asked in his argument, and which he answered for himself, was this : 

" But, Mr. President, gentlemen ask us, when shall the States be restored ? Not by 
"my vote until all these constitutional guarantees are placed utterly beyond all recall ; 
" not until the leading traitors in this rebellion shall have been punished and shall 
"have met the felon's doom." 

The felon's doom is death, and this Union is not to be restored until that work is done ! 

Mr. LANE, of Indiana. Will my colleague pardon me for interrupting him for a 
moment ? 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I yield with pleasure. 

Mr. LANE, of Indiana My colleague surely does not intend to represent me as ask- 
ing for the blood of these felons, except by a trial. I have never for a moment enter- 
tained such a thought. I have no doubt whatever that a military commission has full 
authority to try them ; but without trial and without conviction, I should demand the 
blood of no man. 



23 

Mr. HENDRICKS. I did not understand my colleague as being in favor of somebody 
going and shooting them without authority. I am discussing the question whether 
he can, as a Senator here, say, " The President has been too lenient, he has not tried 
enough men, and I will not consent to his policy for the restoration of these States un- 
til there is more blood shed." I deny that proposition. If these States are here 
clothed with the rights of States, and their Senators come here with the proper certifi- 
cates showing their election, neither my colleague nor any other Senator, in my judg- 
ment, has the right to say to these States, "Go back uutil some felons are executed." 

Sir, the President of the United States has shown a great deal of leniency. When 
he came into power I was afraid that the extreme would be the other way. Consider 
the difference of position between the Senators on this floor, who criticise the President 
on this question, and the President himself. I say with all kindness and respect, that 
I think they have not considered the position the President has been thrown into 
during this war. These Senators of the North have friends and relatives to mourn for 
as we all have, but otherwise they have the prosperity that attended the war in our 
section of the country, enhanced prices of property, the results of an inflated cur- 
rency. They have had prosperity in the North, from this cause, for a time. They have 
had political power. They have placed one star upon one man's shoulder ; two stars, 
by their political influence and recommendation, upon another man's shoulders. They 
have enjoyed power, safety, peace, quiet at home, and high positions of honor here in 
the Senate : while Andrew Johnson, a citizen of Eastern Tennessee, when the war broke 
out, rallied the Union men around him. They stood their position among the moun- 
tains, as my colleague said the other day, as long as it could be held, he, during that 
time, enduring scorn, derision, and threats of his foes. Finally danger became so im- 
minent that he had to leave his State, an exile, and wander in other States for two 
years, to seek that safety and that quiet which he could not enjoy at home. Stung by 
personal abuse, his property gone, stung by being driven out of his home an exile, his 
family scarcely safe at home, brought, by the providence of God, to be President of the 
United States, he can be lenient and kind. He forgets for the time being his personal 
wrongs. He forgets any party allegiance in that high obligation and duty which he 
owes to his country. He wants to restore this Union. He wants these people to come 
together. I was taught by a soldier one night, in travelling from the city of New York 
to Philadelphia and onward West to my home, a lesson which I do not expect soon to 
forget. I fell into conversation with him. I found that he was from the camp in front 
of Petersburg. Among other things, he told me that the soldiers frequently stood 
together upon the lines of each army and fell into conversation. One asked the other, 
" Don't you wish this was over and we could go home ?" The reply from the enemy 
would be, "It would delight my heart." Said the soktier to me, "Stranger, if 
Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis could stand together, face to face, as we soldiers 
stand face to face on the border line between the camps, and talk as we tallc, this war 
could be closed in one month." -» 

Now, sir, that soldier knew what was in the heart of man. He knew that kindness 
and conciliation could frequently bring peace when it would take longimonths of blood- 
shed to do so. But the bloodshed is over; the armies are disbanded ; we are in a state 
of peace ; and the President says that the resolution of 1861, which you Senators 
adopted, ought to be carried out. It is the pledge of Congress ; it is the pledge of the 
department of State to foreign nations ; it is the pledge made to the Army, to the coun- 
try, to the world that when this war is over all these States shall come in with all their 
dignity, rights, and powers unimpaired. Mr. Johnson, President of the United States, 
standing upon that resolution, says, "Let them come." He has recognized them in 
all the relations to the Government to which he is competent to recognize them. The 
duty is ours, he says, to complete the work. It is a high duty. It is a duty, brother 
senators, that we cannot discharge as partisans. It is too great a duty to discharge in 
that spirit, and I was astounded when I saw in the advocary of this resolution the 
perpetuity of the power of tne Republican party urged as a reason. We are in times 
that do not admit of that consideration. 

Mr. President, my colleague referred to our public debt, I believe, and to the pen- 
sions to the soldiers, &c, as a reason why we ought not to admit Senators and Rep- 
resentatives from these southern States. I believe he intimated that these States being 
represented our public debt would become insecure, and the public credit impaired, on 
the ground that they might not vote for the necessary revenue. I look upon that 
question from another stand-point. What is the security for the public debt ? The 
debt is large ; but if the right policy be pursued it is not beyond the power of the 
people to pay. I am not for repudiation. I consider repudiation a deep disgrace. But 
where is the guarantee for that debt ? Huge as it is, where is the guarantee ? Peace, 



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prosperity to the people. If you send out your duplicates into the country for the 
collection of $350,000,000 every year, must you not have a prosperous people at home 
to meet that demand ; and what shall bring us prosperity but union, cordial, hearty, 
permanent, so that we of the West can seek our natural market along the shores of the 
Mississippi and the Gulf, so that the people of the North may buy their cotton, their 
sugar, and staples of the South from that section, so that commerce shall return to its 
ancient channels? These are some of the assurances. And in the judgment of the 
world, what is the highest guarantee ? A united people under the Constitution that all' 
do love and respect. Let it be announced over this world that these States are again 
cordially united, that there is no longer schism or discord iu our ranks, then, indeed, 
the credit of this Government will be established ; but if it goes abroad that this Union 
cannot be restored, that the war has failed, that we keep the States out, that we intend 
to govern them by military power, lt$ any sentiment of that sort go abroad, and as 
that sentiment gains power and influence in the country our credit must go down. 

Does any Senator here fear foreign Powers ? I do not. I do not think we need have 
any foreign wars. But we want foreign nations to respect us, aud that is the best 
guarantee for peace. Let them know that they cannot hurt us, but we can hurt them, 
and we have the highest assurance for respect and peace from all nations. Now, sir, 
what is the best guarantee we can give ? What is the best assurance to foreign nations ? 
It is that we are able under all circumstances to defend ourselves. Let us be a united 
people, united heart and hand, the Constitution governing all over the land, the flag 
everywhere respected, men cordially heart to heart again. When that time comes 
foreign nations will look upon us as again one of the established Powers of the earth 
to be respected, and we will have peace, 

This is the gravest question that has ever been discussed in America. Nothing like 
it has before been presented. The discussions of this Congress, in my judgment, will 
go down as the most important pages of American history. As we decide this question 
it may be — I will not prophesy — but it may be the most important decision ever made 
in this Government from the time our fathers agreed to lay the Articles of Confedera- 
tion aside and adopt the Constitution af 1789. Why cannot we let these States come 
in ? Are party considerations to govern us ? Certainly not. What shall govern us, 
then ? Are you afraid of the vote of Senators and Representatives from the South, 
that they will prevent your doing what is right in respect to the law ? When shall 
thatceasre? You have, as you claim, a strong guarantee here; you will not allow a 
man to come into this Qhanauer unless he takes the test oath. Is not that guarantee 
enough ? These States have laid down their arms, they have complied with all the 
conditions required in the resolution of 1861. They come and ask again for represen- 
tation. You say " No, no, no ; we will not hear you, we will not even give you the 
courtesy of seats upon this floor." 

Is that policy ? Is it right ? I know many have been traitors, ('whether it can be 
defined treason in the courts is a question about which men differ, J but they have been 
guilty of moral treason in organizing a rebellion ; but th»y have been conquered, and 
what is right between man and man, as a general thing, is right among nation and peo- 
ple. If either one of the Senators have a controversy with his neighbor, and it comes 
to blows, or even to weapons, and after fiercest strife you disarm him, aud have him 
entirely in your power, aud he sues for mercy, I know there is not a Senator who would 
deny it. You would not say that you will lift the point of your dagger from his breast, 
and that you will let him up again if he will give you certain guarantees ! No, you 
would say, "You are my conquered enemy ; you acknowledge it ; and I go no further 
in this contest ;" and if attacked by another you will stand by him. That is human 
nature ; it is honorable ; it is right. Here are States that lay down all arms of opposi- 
tion and ask to be admitted into the Union. Do not Senators believe the prospects of 
our country would be brighter at home and abroad, that every interest would be pro- 
moted by letting them come in ? Mr. President, I shall do all in my power in a sense 
of right and duty and obligation to the country to restore these States. I hope that it 
will not have to go to the country as a political question, but I am not afraid of the 
judgment of the country upon it. The people say the war is over and the States ought 
to be in. Peace is here and we ought to bave the results of peace. I am not afraid of 
the people if this is to be made a question, but I seek no such question. In good faith 
I ask that these Stales shall come in. I believe they have a common interest in our 
prosperity, and our destiny may depend upon it. 



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